névropathie

Forms

névropathie f (plural névropathies)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French névro- + -pathie,^[2][3] that is from Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “nerve”) and πάθος (páthos, “what one undergoes, suffering, disease”).^[4][5][1] Wiktionary instead analyses it as névropathe plus -ie,^[1] but the TLFi dates the noun for the sufferer only from 1872 and makes it a back-formation from this word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in Bescherelle's dictionary of 1845, as a medical term for a disorder of the nerves.^[4][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective névropathique is recorded a little earlier, in 1834, in an article of the Dictionnaire de la conversation by Broussais and Labat.^[4] The GLLF describes the condition as a disease of the nervous system marked by great impressionability and by physical disturbances,^[3] and Littré, in 1873, gave the noun simply as a medical synonym of névrose.^[5]

The TLFi limits it to a weakness of the central nervous system causing psychological disturbances, excluding organic diseases of the nerves, and notes, after a 1977 medical handbook, that the term has aged and that the conditions it named are now counted among the neuroses.^[4]

Timeline

• 1834 – The adjective névropathique is recorded.^[4]
• 1845 – Névropathie appears in Bescherelle's dictionary.^[4][3]
• 1872 – Flaubert uses névropathe for a sufferer.^[4]
• 1873 – Littré records it as a synonym of névrose.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (medicine, dated) A weakness of the central nervous system causing psychological disturbances, a nervous disorder; neuropathy in the older sense.^[4][3][1]

Word family

• névropathique
• névropathe

Related words

• névrose
• Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette